Carbet Falls, located in the Capesterre-Belle-Eau region, is one of Guadeloupe’s main tourist attractions. The car ride leading to the hiking trails alone is spectacular—the 10-km road snakes up the mountain through a series of banana fields and tropical rainforest.
Once at the falls, there is a vast picnic area and several trails leading to a second and third set of falls. The second is by far the most impressive, plunging down 110 metres and featuring natural hot springs. It is also the most easily accessible, a mere 30minute hike away along a marked trail with a magnificent suspension bridge.
Petit-Bourg is home to one of Guadeloupe’s best-kept secrets, Saut de la Lézarde, a 15-metre waterfall that pours into a deep 25-metre-wide pool carved into the rock. You can get there in half an hour by following a narrow trail that meanders through a banana plantation and the tropical rainforest. The falls are especially impressive in the humid season when the water forms a curtain around the basin.
Located in the national park in Petit-Bourg on Route de la Traversée, the Cascade aux Écrevisses is perfect for those who aren’t big on hiking or who have young children in tow—10 minutes down a wide cobblestone road and you’re there! The waterfall empties into the Corossol River. Picnic along the riverside and spend the day deep in the tropical forest listening to the babbling river and birdsongs. If you listen hard enough, you may even hear the mongoose, a small carnivorous mammal that closely resembles the meerkat.
